Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Vera Nikolayevna Figner

Forbidden by her father to go to medical school, Vera Nikolayevna married, scraped together some money and ran off to Switzerland to become a doctor anyway. While there, she joined a group of radical young Russian women, who were accused at one point of using their medical knowledge to perform abortions on each other.

Her highly committed and highly effective work to overthrow the czarist government of Russia in the late 1870's and early 1880's eventually got Figner arrested and imprisoned for twenty years. When she was finally released and allowed to leave the country, however, she traveled all over Europe working to free her fellow revolutionaries still in prison. Figner's book, Memoirs of a Revolutionist, was translated into many languages and made her an in-your-face woman known around the world.

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About Me

This is a book project about women we never hear about: women who climbed mountains, scalped their kidnappers, and held off the Roman troops longer than anyone else ever (six months). I'm tired of living in a world where the slang term for being weak is a slang term for a woman's genitals. I'm not asking for respect anymore. I'm giving it. To myself.

Introduction to This Blog

"Exceptional women appear at certain moments in history and are moved by special forces. Men view these women as supernatural beings and their deeds as miracles. Indeed, women are bright stars whose light penetrates dark clouds. They rise in times of trouble when the wills of men are tried. In moments of danger, when women emerge by their side, men utter no protest. Yet women's great acts and endless sacrifices do not change men's views of women. Through their arrogance, men refuse to see the capabilities of women. Faced with contradiction they prefer to raise women above the ordinary human plane instead of placing them on a level equal to their own. Men have singled out women of outstanding merit and put them on a pedestal to avoid recognizing the capabilities of all women." ~ Huda Sha'arawi (1879-1947)

Quotes by In Your Face Women

"The dogma of woman's complete historical subjection to men must be rated as one of the most fantastic myths ever created by the human mind." ~ Historian Mary Ritter Beard

"Humanity has two parts, men and women, and we ought to be walking hand in hand; instead there is antagonism, and it will last as long as the ‘stronger’ half controls, or thinks it controls, the ‘weaker’ half." ~ Louise Michel (1830-1905)

"All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God destined us to occupy." ~ Sarah Grimke (1792-1873)

“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.” ~ Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)

"There is a world-old controversy that crops up whenever women attempt to enter a new field. Is a woman fit for that work? It would seem that a woman's success in any particular field would prove her fitness for that work, without regard to theories to the contrary." ~ Ruth Law (1918)

"If you ask me what office women should fill, I reply, 'Any...Let them be sea captains, if you will. I do not doubt that there are women well fitted for such an office.'" ~ Margaret Fuller (circa 1845)

"There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina. All others should be open to everybody." ~ Lawyer & Civil Rights Activist Florynce Kennedy

"A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." ~ Coco Chanel

"The Glass Ceiling isn't actually made of glass...it's a very thick layer of men." ~ Political Advisor Author Ann Lewis

"I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

"I'll feel equality has arrived when we can elect to office women who are as incompetent as some of the men who are already there." ~ Political Activist Maureen Reagan

"Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps and preside over the White House as the President's spouse. I wish him well." ~ Barbara Bush

"I have a brain and a uterus. I use them both." ~ Politician Pat Schroeder

"Speaking generally, the women had not only no voice in the management of the country, but she had no control over her property, earned or inherited; no control of her own children; no control even of her own person. If that is not a condition of slavery, it bears a close resemblance to it." ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty even to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do so.” ~ Emmeline Pankhurst (1908)

“You can bind my body, tie my hands, govern my actions: you are the strongest, and society adds to your power; but with my will, sir, you can do nothing.” ~ Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin (“George Sand”) (1831)

“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” ~ Author & Journalist Rebecca West (1913)

“It occurred to me when I was thirteen and wearing white gloves and Mary Janes and going to dancing school, that no one should have to dance backward all their lives.” ~ Corporate Board Member & Environmental Consultant Jill Ruckelshaus

"Imperfection is beauty. Madness is genius. And it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. And when it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, I’m already better than them…" ~ Actress & Cultural Icon Marilyn Monroe

"I'm tough. I'm ambitious. And I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay." ~ Singer "Madonna" Ciccone

“Why do people say, ‘Grow some balls’? Balls are weak and sensitive! If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina! Those things take a pounding!” ~ Actress Betty White

"If you're going to make an error, make a doozy. And don't be afraid to hit the ball." ~ Star Tennis Player Billie Jean King

"I see no reason why a woman can't throw as effectively as a man. There are a lot of statements about anatomical differences, but there is not much documented evidence. Maybe we're really talking about poorly skilled people. People with poor athletic skills tend to throw poorly." ~ Linda Zwiren, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory, Hofstra University, 1976

"If it's true that men are better than women because they're stronger, why aren't our sumo wrestlers in the government?" ~ Japanese Political Activist (1800's) Kishida Toshiko

"If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." ~ Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

"Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?" ~ Singer Barbara Streisand

"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry." ~ Author & Publisher Gloria Steinem